“The rapid pace of change in technology has provided huge opportunities for organisations to develop new models, services and products. But while the digital revolution has evolved the way we do business, it has also created a sophisticated and complex set of security issues. Assets that were once physically protected are accessible online; customer channels are vulnerable to disruption; criminals have new opportunities for theft and fraud”.

Obama Cybersecurity Executive Order

President Obama released a long-awaited cybersecurity executive order Tuesday night along with his fifth State of the Union address, outlining new policies aimed at stemming the tide of cyber espionage on American companies and government agencies, as well as shoring up the defenses for American critical infrastructure vulnerable to cyber attacks.

“We know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private e-mail. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems,” Obama said. “We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy”. Source-Forbes

On Wednesday Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, along with other members of Congress resubmitted the Cyber Intelligence Sharing Protection Act.

Proposed EU cyber security law would require notification of attacks.

New rules on cyber security across the European Union were presented in early February after weeks of speculation and leaked drafts.

The main part of the European Commission’s Cyber Security Strategy is a proposed Directive on Network and Information Security. If approved by the European Parliament and member states, this would become E.U. law”

WEF – Cyber Resilience Partnership

“Partnership for Cyber Resilience (PCR). This partnership asks chief executives and government leaders to personally sign a set of cyber principles, setting the tone for their organizations and regions.

As cyber security comes to the fore, the biggest risk companies face is losing the trust of their stakeholders. While the dangers loom increasingly large, too few companies understand the specifics of the threats they face or what to do about them. These dangers relate not just to doing business today, but to the smooth operation of products and services already out there – from power plants and large buildings, to transport networks and energy exploration.

Tom Clancy, in his book Threat Vector, describes how Chinese cyber-warfare experts launch attacks on American infrastructure, for example by taking control of US military unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). This level of attack means that the threat level has increased significantly.

Obama Cybersecurity Executive Order – Gregg Housh, an internet activist associated with the hacking collective Anonymous, said that while the executive order is broad, “of everything we’ve seen so far, this is about the best we could hope for”. One thing Housh is concerned about is the way the government aims to protect citizen privacy and civil liberties. The order says the Department of Homeland Security is set to provide recommendations for how to minimize and mitigate privacy and civil liberties risks in a public report to be released February of next year.source – Guardian

To what extent will the 30 person EU cyber crime central capability be able to address the known and unidentified security threats?

The implications of these US / EU cyber security plans on personal privacy and civil liberties will be one of the most discussed topics for the remainder of this year.

For me there should be much more concern about personal and private information held about citizens and consumers. With Big Data stored in Private, Public and Hybrid clouds, Analytics capabilities and Mobile intrusion there is less chance for an individual to retain a level of personal privacy. I would like my own Personal Cloud (pCloud) lockbox.